Passed on all the sales with a saintly smile, only to land up splurging on the new stock? Turned down all the plum proposals, but netted the yummiest boyfriend? Abstinence doesn’t always quite work the way you plan it.

Navratri may have had you staying away from non-veg delicacies but now you’re ready to go flat out with the marine specials at Frangipani. Be charmed as ever by the 24-hour restaurant, soaked in sunshine and fragrant frangipani shrubs. Tie on your bib and attack their seafood spread with gusto. Tuck into deliciously barbequed sand lobsters, sautéed juicy jumbo prawns, deep-fried baby sharks and the most succulent yellow fin tuna steaks. Our Trendy Taster recommends you start with the hearty Arabian Sea Red Shrimp Bisque with cognac, then go on to a healthy Mediterranean salad and North Atlantic langoustine with citrus aioli. Wash up, panting with pleasure, on the shores of satiety with Chef Joy Bhattacharya’s designer Blue Swimmer Crab Cheesecake.

Bet your day goes swimmingly after this.

Seafood Festival on every Wednesday, Thursday and Friday till Oct 31 at Frangipani, Ground Level, Hilton Towers, Nariman Point, Mumbai; Tel: 66326310; Timing: 12:30pm to 3:00pm, 7:30pm to 11.00pm; Prices: Dinner for two approximately Rs 2500, with alcohol Rs 5,000.

Cotton weaves and a big bindi for the voluntary session with young adults. Chiffons and pearls for the grand Sunday brunch. Kanjeevarams, of course, for the multiple-day wedding celebration.

But what do you wear when you just want to turn heads? When you don’t want to look like Brinda Karat or Gayatri Devi — or even your mum? When you want to go the whole six yards and then some?

Just for those special occasions, Seema and Archana, the joint brains behind the Iksenya label, have teamed up with textile designer Pragatti to create 100 saris that are like no other you have seen.

Their label ‘Six Yards and Counting’ believes in melding the old and the new, not yanking them together. Instead of being added on as embellishments, their saris have gota, zardozi and even ancient brocades woven into the fabric. Not bandhani, they use shibori, the Japanese tie-and-dye technique; not peacock prints, they incorporate actual ostrich feathers. The base fabric itself ranges from handloom crepes and chiffons to silks, organzas and angora wool and extends to Lycra and Tencel.

Drape one of these, and you’ll have others wondering how they can look like you. And unless they have one of the 99 other saris from the trio, you know they can’t.

Six Yards and Counting. Exhibition at Ffolio,1, Embassy Chambers, 5, Vittal Mallya Road, Bangalore on October 26, 27 and 28. Prices begin at Rs 12,000.

You like understated. Shimmering beiges and matte browns define your makeup style. You stay away from dark lips and drawn eyes. An unmade face is your definition of uber sexy.

Time to take a U turn, and dust on some glinting colours. Go feminine, with smouldering eyes and sensual lips a la the 40’s Hollywood glamour queens.

Our Trendy Tester uncovered this season’s haute looks:

MAC Smoke Signal
The Look: Sizzling smoky lids, intense blue-grey shadow, deep kohl, thick lashes and caramel lips.
Products: MAC Eye Shadow X4 in Gentle Fume, Rs 1,250, MAC Lipstick in Sparks Can Fly, Rs 900.

Shiseido Be Bold
The Look: Classic brown redefined with drawn-out eyes in deep chocolate. Lids shaded with shimmering beige and orange brown. Lips coloured in creamy russet brown.
Products: Shiseido Silky Eye Shadow Quad in Desert Winds, Rs 2,500, Accentuating Cream Eyeliner in rich brown, Rs 950, Automatic Lip Crayon in Brown, Rs 1,200.

Givenchy Camouflage
The Look: Blend of contrasting hues and textures. Upper lid played up with the blend of matte peach and pearly midnight blue. Lower lashline in pearly, playful khaki. Lips plumped up in peachy pink.
Products: Givenchy Prismessime Eyes 9 Colour Eye Shadow in Cache Cache, Rs 2,305, Rouge Interdit in Rose Caprice, Rs 1,195.

Available at all leading stores. MAC products in MAC stores, only.

Your MP3 alarm clock has you thrilling to the great Alladiya Khan’s tune at daybreak. The dusty sitar in the corner has you musing about what may have been. If only you had enjoyed the tutelage of an ustaad.

First-time author, former journalist Namita Devidayal’s memoir of a musical heritage traces an experience startlingly privileged — and strikes a chord painfully poignant.

The young girl encounters teacher-mentor Dhondutai — perhaps last of the Jaipur gharana, sole heiress to Alladiya Khan and Kersarbai Kerkar’s own compositions — in Mumbai’s seamy chawls. And so begins a tussle, a dialogue sometimes tender, sometimes challenging, but always tugging on the heartstrings to sound a duet of promise and desperation.

Music is a hard taskmaster. Gentle Dhondutai’s soul proved not of stern enough temper; will Namita prove too intemperate in turn? The broken threads in this symphony are almost a leitmotif — Alladiya’s failures with his own sons; the constant discord within Kesarbai’s own self; the yearning that beats fruitlessly through Dhondutai’s life.

What new note will Namita record?

‘To achieve perfection one must give up everything’ warns the innovative trailer that announced this exceptional volume.

Lose yourself, in the music of memories.

The Music Room, by Namita Devidayal, Random House, Price: Rs 395, available at leading bookstores.

Handwriting, they say, is a sign of personality. Clothes, a symbol of individuality. So what do you call a tattoo? Body language?

While you figure that one out, Trendy shortlists the hippest tattoo parlours in the city. Oh, they’re the safest too, using imported needles (once only, of course) and organic dyes.

Sasha Salon and Institute: Tribal signs, eagles and scorpions, butterflies and sunflowers. Or temp ones with vegetable dye, which last for about a week.
# 201, 2nd floor, 5th Avenue , Brigade Road, Bangalore. Contact Padmalatha at 25327499/Mob 9886086021. Cost: Rs 1000-Rs 30000.

Brahma Tattoo Studio: Choose from over 30,000 designs that can be inked on you using Korean needles and organic ink. Most-in-demand: Sunbursts, the Holy Cross, the ‘ Om’, barbed wires and the forever-favourite dragon.
26 Indo-Dubai Plaza. Rest House Road, off Brigade Road, Bangalore. Contact Giri at 9948200145. Cost: Upwards of Rs 1500.

Comfortably Numb: Choose from hundreds of the hippest designs or create your own signature symbol. Formerly with Peaches Salon and Spa (a Trendy fave), the principal tattoo artist here makes magic with ink.
No 23, Y Cross, Mangala Layout, Kamanahalli, Bangalore. Contact Russell at 9845588748. Cost: Upwards of Rs 1500.

Let your tattoo do the talking.

October. German. Drink. Music. Fun. Wouldn’t blame you if you thought of the beer-filled Oktoberfest in Munich. But no. The words hint at something fresh and exciting. Much closer home.

Lychee Lassi from Berlin, a musical foursome, who’s come to India fresh from Deutschland, via Berlin, Hamburg and Leipzig, found the name to match their sound — where else but in an Indian restaurant in Germany. The exotic, frothy, blended drink seemed a good match for their cool whip of funk, hip-hop, jazz and soul.

The band members’ wide-apart individual backgrounds make for a psychedelic mix alright. Guitarist Berger submitted a PhD on Hendrix post his Jazz degree.

Bassist ‘Beat’ Halberschimdt composes for dance theatre and film. Drummer Knauf sets the beat for several bands. And Illvibe was DJ for Germany’s most successful reggae band, Seeed. This no-frontman clique has already won raves in Italian, Swiss and UK clubs before embarking on the India tour.

Will they be in pinstripes, gangsta gear or space suits? You’ll never know till you’re there. Trendy predicts this amped-up lychee infusion will sync right into your taste.

Go on. Soak it up.

Lychee Lassi: Performing at 6.30pm today at St. Andrews Auditorium, St. Andrews College, Domnik Road, Off Hill Road, Bandra (W); Tel: 26513224/25; Free passes available at venue and at Goethe-Institut, Max Mueller Bhavan, K Dubash Marg, Kala Ghoda, Mumbai; Tel: 22027710; URL: www.lycheelassi.de.

Your ‘energize me’ playlist resonates from The Prodigy to Pink, by way of Bjork, Moby, Fatboy Slim and The Chemical Brothers. You groove to the house at Ministry of Sound, especially when you can catch sweet Jalebee — the Cartel, that is, who spin the DJ station, fronted by Arjun Vagale.

Which is why we’ve got this Saturday-night date you can’t refuse.

The Jalebee Cartel quintet takes stage at the Goethe-Institut on the evening of the 27th., followed by Lychee Lassi from Germany.

The foursome, who come to India fresh via Berlin, Hamburg and Leipzig, found the name to match their sound — where else in Deutschland — in an Indian restaurant. The exotic frothy blended drink seemed a good match for their cool whip of funk, hip-hop, jazz and soul. The band members’ wide-apart individual backgrounds make for a psychedelic mix alright — guitarist Berger submitted a PhD on Hendrix post his jazz degree; bassist ‘Beat’ Halberschimdt composes for dance theatre and film, his rock riff informed by world music elements.

This no-frontman clique have won raves in Italian, Swiss and UK clubs. So Trendy predicts this amped-up lychee-jalebee fusion will sync right into your taste.

Go get electrified.

Jalebee Cartel and Lychee Lassi play Saturday, 27 October, 7.00pm onwards. Free passes available at Max Mueller Bhavan/Goethe-Institut, 3 K G Marg, New Delhi; ph: 23329506. Websites: www.jalebee.in; www.lycheelassi.de.

You mix the Indian and the Western with fluid ease. That Swarovski nose-stud makes your girlfriends go gaga. Heads turn every time you flaunt that oh-so-hot combination of the saree and halter top.

Now here’s something to give your cool desi wardrobe that little extra zing. Fab India’s latest ‘Teen Spirit’ collection is for the Indian chica, a demure Indo-western collection that celebrates the abandon, attitude and pizzazz of youth.

Multi-hued woven cotton tops create the perfect silhouette. Adorable little spag-straps teamed with colourful cotton capris get you all set for that lazy Sunday brunch. Don’t miss out on those cotton embroidered racer backs, which team up perfectly with jeans, skirts or those cute denim shorts.

Bored of the tried and tested denim and white t-shirt combo? Throw on their candy pink or startling azure crochet overalls and give the age-old classic look a whole new twist.

Our Trendy Shopper had her heart set on this whole range of ‘cute meets sexy’ cotton skirts. A-line, flared and layered, checks, solids and self designed — choose your style and let these super ensembles do the rest.

Let the indie Indi shine through.

Teen Spirit, at all Fab India Stores across the country. Skirts: Rs 385 onwards, capris: Rs 325 onwards, cotton tops: Rs 285 onwards, crochets: Rs 588 onwards.

Dabs of your favourite fragrance on your pulse points. Sweet nothings whispered in your ear. A tiny diamond cluster that dazzles on your finger. Life’s yummies are best in small doses. That way you can savour them more.

The Chinese, wise as always put the taste of heaven into little bite-sized packets that touch your heart (that’s literally what ‘dimsum’ means). China House — still making waves months after its opening — is doing the same.

The split-level restaurant with cleverly lit nooks, sunken pools and open bar, all Chinese calligraphy and elegant exotica, has chefs crafting over 20 varieties of authentic dimsum in its upstairs dining area. Try perfectly steamed seafood dumplings in chicken broth or chicken dumplings with a peanut sauce drizzle. Appreciate the unusual flavour that the lotus leaf wrapping imparts to aromatic steamed seafood rice — our Trendy Taster couldn’t get enough of it. Mushroom lovers will find their muse in porcini and truffle topped creations. End with a lightly flavoured jasmine tea-ramisu or handmade ginger chocolate ice cream.

‘He who eat light, see light,’ reads your fortune cookie.

Dim Sum Yum festival (on till Oct 21) at China House, the Grand Hyatt, Off Western Express Highway, Santacruz (E), Mumbai; Tel: Tel 66761234 /1116; Prices: Meal for two without alcohol approximately Rs 2,500.

“Let’s do lunch.”
“Can we do this meeting over lunch?”
“Do you think you can do a quick 5-minute lunch and then get back to me on this?”
Blah-blah-blah. Yak-yak-yak.

Sigh-sigh-sigh. So what does a well-toned, health-conscious woman do for lunch when her choc-a-bloc life is as cramped as long toes in ballerina pumps? Pick a salad off the new Daily Bread Healthy menu? Like, yah!

Say a healthy hello to salads and sandwiches filled with the wholesome energy of wheat, tangy goodness of herb and the freshness of bright, crunchy veggies (and tender lean meats). All low-fat, mind you. So while you’re in a rush, here’s something that’ll slow you down. A Ciabatta Crunch with tangy marinated tomato and roasted eggplant for rush-hour delishness. A Venetian Odyssey with roasted bell pepper and zucchini for corporate-takeover-tanginess. And a tropical fresh fruit salad for boardroom bodies. Done? Good. Now get back to work.

And thank God for Daily Bread. Amen.

The Daily Bread Healthy Menu is available at Daily Bread outlets on Church Street, Tel: 64526664, Indiranagar, Tel: 64526665, JP Nagar, Tel: 64526672, Koramangala, Tel: 64526670, Sadashivangar, Tel: 64526671, Ulsoor, Tel: 32906129. Frazer Town: 64546660. Sandwiches and salads priced between Rs 55 and Rs 75.